No Present Like The Time

When asked what they would like for a present, 9.5 out of 10 stitchers agree that they would like more Time. It is just about the only thing I haven't seen on eBay yet. People used to talk about how Time is money. (Do they still? And how is the exchange rate these days?) But I have always considered that Time is Life and you can't top that up from the Bank in the Wall when you start to run short. We always have a lot of projects on the go, I know - and some of them humungously big. But what do you think about this project - to bead and embroider a Volkswagen Beetle? Two families of Huíchol artisans devoted more than 9,000 hours of their lives (Time) to transforming a 1990 Volkswagen Beetle with more than 2 million glass seed beads and nearly 35 pounds of fabric, paint and thread. Not only is the exterior embellished - but the interior too - the seats, steering wheel and dashboard are entirely encrusted with beads. This is now the first Huíchol object of art on wheels. Huichol is the common name for Mexico’s indigenous Wixaritari, a community of approximately 26,000 people who have settled in the mountainous region of the western Sierra Madre. You can see this piece when it is unveiled in The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in the museum’s Potomac Atrium Tuesday, March 20. Click here to see more images.